


Unsaid

by Cherry



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Good Nile, Levi/Erwin fluff, M/M, Mentions of homophobia, Old fashioned society
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-04
Updated: 2014-06-04
Packaged: 2018-02-03 08:20:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1737767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cherry/pseuds/Cherry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for an anonymous prompt on the Dreamwidth SnK Kink meme.</p><p>Prompt:</p><p>Wall society is pretty homophobic, so Erwin and Levi have always kept their relationship under wraps. Only a couple of friends of theirs in the Corps are in on the secret.</p><p>Then at a fancy party in Sina, one of the nobles throws their relationship in Erwin's face (whether the guy knows or is just a rumormonger is up to you). Erwin is caught off-guard, because no one should know. A smear like this on his reputation could also seriously hamper his political maneuvers.</p><p>Then, while Erwin is arguing with the noble, Niles shows up out of nowhere and backs Erwin up like a true friend, and together they shout the noble down. He might have his differences with Erwin, but he isn't going to let his friend get hassled over personal issues.</p><p>+Niles finds out the truth only after the argument. He's shocked, but is alright with it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unsaid

**Author's Note:**

> I'm working on my other fics, but I couldn't resist this prompt. I probably spent a bit too long on the Eruri, because - Eruri. 
> 
> Thank you to the anonymous OP for the idea. I love Nile being the good guy sometimes.

Lord Hallam Ritter and his wife, Lady Augusta, were known for holding extravagant parties to which, besides the inevitable members of the forty or so highest ranking families of Sina society, they took care to invite a select and varied mix of guests. Augusta, clever and easily bored, was always on the look out for someone new and interesting to add to her well-balanced list of invitees, and when she happened to meet Commander Erwin Smith of the Survey Corps at one of her friend’s soirees, the man’s _almost_ successfully concealed desperation to win sponsors for his division, together with the thrill of the idea of the titans, and the undeniable pleasure of looking at his handsome face, persuaded her that he would make an ideal guest at the next party. Perhaps she would invite several of his men, for good measure? Augusta wondered that she had never considered before the ways in which constant military training defined a soldier’s physique so pleasingly.

“Two at the most,” Lord Hallam had ruled, surveying the guest list with a connoisseur’s eye. “We’ve already invited Dawk, and half a dozen members of the Military Police. The Survey Corps has its place, no doubt, and I have no objection to meeting the new commander – even making a contribution to his cause. It will irritate Lobov and his cronies, if I’m seen to be championing Zackly’s protégé. But I don’t want to push things too far at present. Lobov has the potential to make things difficult in parliament, and much as I loathe the man privately, I must content myself with mild goading in public. I can’t afford to irritate my other guests with a plague of Survey Corps soldiers bleating for funds. Who’s the little Captain Lady Amerle was swooning over the other day? The famous titan killer?”

“Captain Levi?” Augusta asked. “Oh yes – that might be fun. I hear they’re calling him ‘Humanity’s Strongest’ now. And his temper is rumoured to be a short as his stature, which might make for some entertaining conversation.”

“Very well – just those two,” Hallam nodded. “Now – politically speaking, what to you say to Anatoly Lomek? Too controversial, or shall we take a risk?”

 

Erwin reached for Levi’s hand as the carriage bumped along the muddy road from Trost towards the interior and Lord Ritter’s Sina mansion. “A whole day of travelling together in privacy!” he said, smiling.

Levi gave him a cynical look. “Tch. Why d’you think I agreed to come? You know I don’t have any time for those rich pigs from the centre.”

“You only came to be with me?” Erwin asked. “And you keep telling me you’re not a romantic!”

“I came in case we get the chance to fuck,” Levi said, keeping his voice low just in case the coachman could hear them over the thud of the horses’ hooves and the incessant rumble of the wheels. “I can hardly remember the last time I had your dick in me, and I’m missing it like crazy. Call that romantic if you want.”

“I do.” Erwin lifted Levi’s hand to his mouth and licked the length of his index finger, his eyes fixed on Levi’s. Levi did his best to look bored, but the tremor that ran through him gave him away. Erwin closed his lips around Levi’s finger and drew it into his mouth in as obscene a parody of cock sucking as he could manage. Levi shuddered. “Fuck, Erwin!”

“I’d like to. It’s too risky here. But if we room together at the inn, and the door locks…”

“It fucking better!” replied Levi, forgetting to be quiet. “I’m not sucking up to Sina high-and-mightys half the night if I can’t suck –”

“Shh!” Erwin glanced towards the front of the carriage. Although the coachman couldn’t see into the closed compartment from his high seat, there was always the risk of being overheard. The journey took them through many small villages, and pulling down the window blinds in daylight would look suspicious. Erwin leaned close and murmured into Levi’s ear, “We can’t do anything we can’t instantly stop, here. But after this damn party is over – if we can get a room on our own – we’ll be able to take our time…” Erwin licked Levi’s ear, and his hand moved to rest on Levi’s thigh, fingers pressing lightly against the firm muscle. Levi closed his eyes, teeth gritted in frustration. “Don’t! Shit, Erwin, don’t touch me, if we can’t do anything about it!” Reluctantly, Levi pushed Erwin’s hand away. “If one of us was a woman, people would be making jokes about us travelling together - expecting something to happen. We’re both over thirty, for fuck’s sake, it’s ridiculous that we can’t even –”

“I know. And if we didn’t hold the positions we do, I’d risk anything, Levi. You can’t think I care about public opinion for my own sake? Even if most people would consider us deviants. But we have to deal with facts. If rumours of our – this -”

Levi scoffed softly. “You don’t even know what to call it, do you?”

“No. _Affair?_ I don’t know.”

“Isn’t it only an affair when someone’s being unfaithful?”

“Yes. But I don’t know what else to call it. Our – _liaison_? No, that sounds like a casual thing. There isn’t a word for it. I mean, if you were a woman I’d have married you years ago, before someone else – What? Levi, what is it?”

Levi was staring at Erwin, wide-eyed, gone still with shock.

“You – would have _married_ me?”

Erwin hesitated, afraid that he’d caused offence. “Well – what I mean is I would have _asked_ you to marry me. I wasn’t assuming -”

Forgetting to be careful, Levi threw himself into Erwin’s arms and kissed him with unguarded passion. Erwin couldn’t help but respond, pleased that Levi apparently welcomed the idea so much, and a little saddened that it seemed to have taken him entirely by surprise. At that moment the carriage slowed, and both Erwin and Levi became conscious that they were being watched. Fearfully they moved apart and turned to face the window, both of them stifling relieved laughter when they saw that their audience was only a curious horse in a paddock, watching the carriage as it made its way through a shallow ford.

“I thought you realised that much,” Erwin said softly, sitting back, slightly apart from Levi, but keeping hold of his hand.

“No. I knew that I felt like that, but I wasn’t sure about you. I thought you might - prefer not to be like this.”

Erwin shook his head. “No. It would certainly make things easier, and it’s not as though I haven’t also been attracted to women in the past, but – no. I _prefer_ to be with you. I wish there was a way –”

Levi sighed. “Yeah, so do I. When this war is over – When the titans have gone…”

“When that happens,” Erwin said, “we can go anywhere, and not have to care what anyone else thinks about anything.”

“We can make that happen,” Levi said, fiercely. “Your planning and my swords – Mike, Hange and the others – between us, we can make it happen. And then we’ll go – off the maps – somewhere new where we can make our own rules. And don’t worry about this stupid party. I know why it matters. I’ll be what they want me to be. Tell stories about killing titans – be blunt, but not insulting – pretend to care what the so-called important people think. We’ll get funding for a dozen missions.”

Erwin smiled, squeezing Levi’s hand, hoping that he would be proved right.

 

The ballroom in Lord Ritter’s mansion was as long as the parade ground at the Survey Corps’ HQ. The floor was polished wood, the heavy curtains damask, and the chandeliers crystal. Lady Augusta greeted Erwin and Levi as they were announced, diamonds glittering in her ears and around her graceful throat. Erwin suspected that the price of one of those earrings would pay his soldiers’ wages for a month.

“Erwin,” Lady Augusta smiled, “It’s lovely to see you again. And this must be the brave Captain Levi!” She offered her gloved hand to Levi, who bowed with stiff formality and kissed it. “It’s – a pleasure My Lady,” he said, remembering Erwin’s lessons in the carriage.

“So many people are desperate to meet you!” Lady Augusta cooed, taking Erwin’s arm, putting her free hand on Levi’s shoulder. Steering them expertly through the crowded ballroom, she dropped Erwin off with a group of beautifully dressed young women, and then led Levi to the other side of the room, where she introduced him to a group of young Military Police officers who instantly began quizzing him about the titans.

After the most elaborate meal Levi had ever eaten, an hour or two passed in dancing and more conversation. A succession of pretty and petite young women seemed to appear at Levi’s side just as new dances were about to start, and most of them promised donations for the Survey Corps from their husbands or fathers by the end of each dance. Erwin was also occupied in dancing, noting with satisfaction that Levi was more than coping with the dances he had only hastily learned in the week leading up to the party, and feeling generally pleased by the way the evening was going. Lord Ritter himself had promised a generous donation, in the hearing of Lobov, one of the Survey Corps’ most vociferous opponents in parliament. Although Erwin knew perfectly well that Ritter’s interest was probably more focussed on annoying his enemy Lobov that helping the Survey Corps, he wasn’t about to turn down funding from any source. By the time the ladies retired to their salon and the men were left to play cards, drink and smoke, Erwin was feeling confident that the evening had gone better that he could possibly have predicted.

It was almost time for the coaches to be summoned at the end of the party, when a young nobleman, flushed with wine and almost too drunk to stand lurched against Erwin on his way to his card table. “Out of my way!” the youth said angrily. He looked at Erwin’s immaculate dress uniform, and sneered. “This party is too cluttered with people of no breeding. Don’t you have walls to protect, or titans to fight or something?”

“I believe you bumped into me, Sir,” Erwin said, mildly enough.

“Well, I don’t care what you believe,” the boy said, trying to draw himself up, and realising that Erwin was still a good span taller than he was. “Do you know who I am?”

“I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure,” Erwin replied, with a charming smile, and an edge of sarcasm in his tone that was lost on no one. From the other side of the table, where he’d been winning a considerable amount at cards, Levi looked up, concerned.

“I am the eighth Viscount of Utopia,” the boy declared. “And I say _you_ bumped into _me_. Do you mean to imply that I’m a liar?”

Levi got to his feet. To call a man a liar was to invite a challenge, and the last thing the Survey Corps needed was the scandal of a duel. The viscount glared at Levi. “Oh,” he said with a suggestive leer, “It’s the little Captain rushing to his Commander’s defence! I hear you two are inseparable – go everywhere together. What is it, Commander Smith – is he so small you mistake him for a woman? It must be hard, in the army, with so few female soldiers – and those more manly than the men, if rumours are to be believed. Or perhaps you don’t mistake your Captain for anything. Perhaps you know perfectly well what he keeps in his pants, and you prefer _things_ as they – _stand?”_ The viscount smirked, pleased with his innuendo.

Nile Dawk, the commander of the Military Police, who clearly knew the viscount, or at least his reputation, approached cautiously. “Sir, I’m sure Commander Smith meant no offence. It was an accident –”

“Whether he meant it or not, I am offended by men of his kind,” the viscount said loudly. “It’s disgusting!”

“Hey!” Levi cried, “What the hell are you trying –”

“Levi!” Erwin warned. Levi fell silent.

“That’s it, Commander – bring your dog to heel,” the viscount said, talking to Erwin but leering at Levi. “You’ve certainly got him well trained. Does he lick your boots to order, as well? Does he lick your –”

“That’s enough!” Nile said firmly, placing himself between Erwin and the drunken aristocrat. He looked to Erwin, waiting for a response.

For a panicked moment Erwin was at a complete loss. Were the viscount’s implied accusations based on rumour, or were they simply opportunistic? He had been so careful to keep his relationship with Levi hidden. Mike, he knew, suspected, and possibly Hange, but surely no one else? Even if the viscount’s insults were simply unfortunate random remarks, rumours could start from much less. Erwin knew that his reputation was tied inextricably to that of the Survey Corps, as long as he was its commander. He could not allow this slur to stand, and yet the denial stuck in his throat.

“You have drunk too much wine,” he said, finally. “This is absurd.”

“I’m not drunk!” the viscount stated unconvincingly. “I’m simply - simply waiting for you to deny my accusation. I say you’re a deviant. Do you call me a liar?” With a jolt of belated understanding, Erwin realised that Lobov was nearby, watching the scene unfold. He’d always opposed the Survey Corps. Whether or not he knew anything, Erwin was certain the viscount’s attempt to provoke him had been staged. Before Erwin could think of a suitably diplomatic reply, Nile stepped in again, simmering with outrage.

“I say you’re mistaken,” Nile stated, looking the viscount in the eye without fear. “Whether you’re lying or not, I leave to your conscience, but I have known Erwin Smith for many years, and I know categorically that he is _not_ what you have accused him of being. When we were trainees together, we went drinking and met young women. I know that there was a woman he nearly married, but his sense of duty – his decision to stick with his resolve to join the Survey Corps - led her to choose someone in a safer profession – a member of the Military Police, in fact. What you say of him is quite ridiculous. You should apologize, title, or no title.”

There was a murmur of agreement from several of the listeners. Lord Ritter came hurrying over, alarmed by the sound of dissent among his guests. As soon as he saw the Viscount of Utopia, he turned to Lobov. “Your brother-in-law appears to have enjoyed rather too much of my wine again,” he said, patting Lobov on the shoulder in a friendly fashion. “I’d be so grateful if you could find space for him in your carriage, and make sure he gets home safely.”

Lobov surveyed the crowd, calculated that there were considerably more hostile faces than supportive ones, and nodded with a rather forced smile. “Of course. I’ll see him home.” He turned to the young viscount, and took his arm rather forcefully. “Come on, Wilhelm, time to go.”

“Well, perhaps it’s time I called for the other carriages,” Lord Ritter said, when Lobov and his brother-in-law had gone. “It will soon be morning, and the ladies must be tired by now.”

Amid the general agreement, thanks, and leave-taking, Erwin found Nile. “Thank you,” he said. “That threatened to turn nasty. I hope we haven’t jeopardised any of the funding I was promised tonight.”

“Viscount Wilhelm is notoriously argumentative when he’s drunk,” Nile said. “Don’t worry, Erwin. No one would take such stupid accusations seriously. Not about _you_. I mean you only have to look at you, to know the very idea is absurd!”

Erwin looked at his old friend carefully, not sure whether Nile was talking from his genuinely held opinions, or whether he was saying what he hoped would be overheard. “Can we offer you and Marie a ride home?” he asked. “We have a coach and four at our disposal.”

“Marie is at home, expecting any day now,” Nile said, with the pride of a man about to become a father for the second time. “But, for myself, thank you.”

 

In the carriage, Levi leaned back against the seat, and put his hand over his eyes. “Fuck, what a night! Where the hell did that shit at the end come from? Was that some kind of political move?”

“Yes, I think so,” Erwin replied, rubbing his temple wearily. “Lobov was angry about Ritter’s public backing of the Survey Corps. I think he put his brother-in-law up to attempting to discredit me. I hope we still get the funding we were promised.”

“From Ritter we will,” Levi said, lowering his hand. “He was having too much fun pissing off Lobov to go back on his offer.” He glanced at Nile. Levi had some less than positive impressions of Nile Dawk as commander of the Military Police from his time in the underground, but he had to admit the man had done a good job of sticking up for Erwin. “Thanks,” he said. “For what you did.”

“I was only speaking my mind,” Nile replied. “The idea that either of you could possibly –”

“Nile,” Erwin interrupted gently, “the reason I didn’t respond to the accusations immediately was because they’re true.”

“What are you talking about?” Nile asked. “I was there when you, Mike and I used to go drinking. Remember? All the girls you liked? Even my Marie…”

“Yes, I remember. But – then I found Levi.”

“But – you – And _you_?” Nile stared at Levi. “But – you’re soldiers. The best soldiers! And you don’t look like –” Nile stopped talking.

“I think – love grows where it grows,” Erwin said.

Nile looked at him, and nodded. There was a long silence.

Levi broke it. “So – brat number two?” he said, with characteristic tact. “When’s it due?”

Nile talked happily about his wife, their first child, and the impending arrival of the second, until they reached his house. When he left the carriage, shaking Levi’s hand, and clapping Erwin on the shoulder, there was hardly any awkwardness to the farewells.

When the carriage had resumed its journey to an inn that Erwin and Levi both fervently hoped would have a spare room for hire with a door that locked, Levi looked at Erwin thoughtfully.

“What is it?” Erwin asked.

“What you said to Nile,” Levi said. “ _Love grows where it grows_ …”

“It’s true, isn’t it?”

“Yeah - it’s true. But - you’ve never used that word.”

“Neither have you,” Erwin pointed out.

“Tch. Well, we _are_ soldiers. Anyway – kind of - goes without saying, doesn’t it?”

“Goes without saying,” Erwin agreed.


End file.
